Check-indorsing machine



Aug. 4, 1925.

1,548,699 l.. J. ZAHN CHECK INDORS NG MAC-IINE Filed June 19, 1'353 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR L Amen/cf J ZAHN l WM ATTORNEY Aug. 4, 1925.'

Filed June 19.' 5 sheets-sheet s w X. i ,a h u wh u N ,mw

Aug. 4, 1925. 1,548,699

L. J. ZAHN CHECK INDORS I NG MACHINE Filed Jre 19, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR LAw/eE/vcf rl ZAHN ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 4, A1925.

UNITED STATES 1,548,699 PATENT OFFICE.

LAWRENCE J. ZAHN, 0F ASTORIA, NEWl YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 THEINTERNATIONAL POSTAL SUPPLY COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CHECK-INDORSING- MACHINE.

Application filed J'iln 19, 1923. Serial No. 646,372.

To all whom t may concer/n.: i

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE J. ZAHN,` a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Astoria, county of Queens, city and State yof New York, have invented certain new and the printing mechanism is very compactly arranged and mounted and supported in cof operative relation with check feeding means for convenient use in conjunction with an adding or calculating machine, such as is commonly employed in banks and other large financial institutions.

' It is an important feature of the present invention to arrange the printing mechanism with its operating motor within a pivotally supported housing whereby said mechanism and motorJ may be moved as a unit into or out of operative relation with the check feeding rolls. j

A further object ofthe invention is to provide an improved means for continuously supplying fluid ink to the absorbent inking roller of the printing mechanism which in turn inks the faces of the type on the revoluble printing die. Y'

lVith the'above and other objects in view the invention consists in the improved check indorsing machine and in the form, construction and relative arrangement of its several parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in thev accompanying'drawings and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claims.

In the drawings wherein'l have disclosed one practical and satisfactory embodiment of the invention and in which similar .reference and operating means therefor;

Figure 4 is an enlarged plan view of the inking means Vfor the .printing die; and

Figure 5 is a side elevation thereof. Y Referring in detail to the accompanying drawings, 5 designates a base plate upon one end of which supports 6 are suitably secured for the table or platform 7, said table including a forwardly projecting part extending beyond the base 5 and preferably of greater width than said base. The rear end portion 8 of said table is at a lower elevation than the front portion thereof,f said front and rear portions being connected by the obliquely inclined intermediate portion 9 n The lower rear portion 8 of the table plate is provided with an opening 10 through which the upper portion of the rubber covered feed roller 11 projects, said roller being rotatably supported by a transverse rod or shaft 12 suitably mounted at its ends in the table supporting frames 6. This feed roller is in two sections slightly spaced apart on the shaft 12. i Y

Rearwardly of the sectional feed roller a rubber covered presser roll 13 is supported between the upper ends of curved arms 14 each of which has a front vertical portion 15 pivotally engaged upon the transverse rod 15 fixed in the frames 6. This roller 13 mal position by means of coil springs 17 which are attached at their rear ends to the frames 6 and at their forward ends to the vertical portions 15 of the arms 14.

Upon the rear end of the base plate 5 and adjacent toits opposite edges, standards 18 are rigidly secured. ;In the upper ends of these standards the side plates 19 of a housing or casing are pivotally mounted on the rod 20 which connects the standards vto each other. Between said standards the rear end of the housing cover 21 is pivotally engaged upon said rod, said cover at its other or 4free end being provided with suitable latch means 22 to engage with a lug 23 on the upper edge of the 'front plate 24 of the housing. The lower side of the housing is also closed by means of the plate 25 ex tending between the side plates 19. e

feed rollers 11 (see Fig. 1) are fixed `upon i the shaft 27 which-is journaled at its ends in suitable bearings on the housing plates 19. A worm gear 28 is fixed upon this shaft and is engaged by a worm 29 on an obliquely inclined shaft 30 which is enclosed within a easing 31 formed upon the inner side of one of the housing pates 19 and extending substantially the entire length thereof. The other end of this shaft is provided with a Worm 32 engaged with the Worm gear 33 on the shaft 34 of the driving motor 35 which is mounted in the rear end lof the housing.

The printing die 36 is fixed upon the shaft V37 which projects beyond the opposite ends ofthe die. One end of this shaft is adapted to beengaged in a central sock-et 38 of the rietionally driven member 39. At one of its ends thismember is formed with a disc 40 havinga series of circumferentially spaced openings 41 therein in any one of which a pin L42 projecting from one end of the die 36 may be engaged in accordance with the particular arrangement of the type `characters of said die.

suitably mounted in one side wall of the` The member 39 is casing 31 for free rotation and is provided with a reduced shaft extension 43 on its other end upon which the worm gear 44 is loosely mounted, said wormgear having constant meshing engagement with the Worm 45 fixed upon the shaft 30. Upon the lextremity of the shaft extension 43, an axially shiftable sleeve 46 is engaged, said sleeve having a flange 47 opposed to the gear 44 and extending through a tubular boss 48 formed` upon the housing wall 19. The opposite side walls of the sleeve 46 are provided with openings to receive the ends of a pin 49 which is centrally formed with a stud 50 projecting into the longitudinal bore of a member 51 lixed in the outer end of said sleeve. The outer end of the bore is threaded to receive the screw 52 which is adapted to be adjusted Vto regulate the tension of the spring 53 disposed between said screw and stud 50.

Between the fiange 47 and one side of the gear 44, a friction .disc 54 is disposed, and a similar disc 55 is also positioned between the opposite face of the gea-r 44 and the central part of the member 39. It will be 0bvious from this construction that by adjustment of the screw 52, the frictional pressure of the discs 54and 55 against the faces of gear 44 may be regulated whereby rotation is imparted to the member 39 and consequently to the die 36 upon the operation of the motor and the rotation of the shaft 30.

The other end of the shaft 37 is supported by the bearing member 37 which has ad'- justable threaded engagement in one wall of the housing as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. It will be apparent that by taking olf or threading this bearing member outwardly, it may be disengaged from the end of the shaft`37 and the pin 42 then removed from the opening 41 in the member 39 so that the printing die can be readifly removed and another substituted there or. In order to limit each operation of the die to stamp or print a. .single indorselnent oir a check passing throughthe machine, l provide the check actuated trip device, generally indicated by the numeral 56 which includes a pivotally mounted trip member adapted to coact with a stop roller '57 mounted on the plate 4() to normally overcome the driving friction between the disc 55 and the member39, and thus prevent rotation of the printing die. This check actuated trip mech- `anism is quite similar to that shown and described in the ending application of lVilliam F. Muller, er. No. 578,272, filed July 28, 1922, and since the same constitutes no cssential feature of the present improvement, no further detail description thereof is nceessary in the present application.

Rearwardly of the printing die 36 the inking roller 58 is mounted in the substantially U-shaped frame or yoke 59. 'Ihis roller has a covering of felt or other absorbent material and rests by gravity upon the periphery of the printing die. The ends of the frame 59 are provided with guides 95 60 which loosely receive the upper ends of the rods or standards 61 fixed to the bottom plate .25 of the housing. The frame 59 is also provided at its opposite ends and at the rear side thereof with depending arms 62 10" which are provided with obliquely inclined slots 63 to receive trunnions 64 on opposite ends of a spiral ink supplying member 65. This member has its lower portion disposed in the ink receiving pan or receptacle 66 105 which is loosely engaged for free swinging movement on the trunnions 64. The base of the pan wall is weighted as indicated at 67 so that said panv will always remain suspended in a perpendicular position. Coil 11" springs 68 are attached to the trunnions 6land act to yieldingly hold the edge of' the spiral member 65 throughout its length in, bearing contact against the felt or other absorbent material of the inking roller 58. It will be apparent that in the rotation of the printing die, the inking roller will also be rotated and this roller in turn frictionally engaging the edge of thespiral blade 65 the ink will be carried by the convolutions of this spiral blade as it is rotated and supplied to the absorbent material of the inking roller. Thus uniform saturation of the lnking roller is obtained and the type faces of the printing die will always be perfectly inked 125 feed rollers 12 while the printing die 36 bearing on the impression roller 13 forces the same downward slightly against the action of the spring 17. Therefore, it will be seen that as the paper checks are passed over the table `7 down the inclined section 9 thereof and fed rearwardly by the rollers 11 and 26, the roller '13 will hold the paper check firmly in contact against the face of the printing die as the check is moved rearwardly by the rotation of said die. The indorsed checks will collect beneath the rear portion of the housing upon the base 5 and they may be readily removed simply by swinging the housing of the printing mechanism upwardly as shown in dotted `lines in Fig. 2. For the purpose of oiling or lubricating the parts of the mechanism, the mechanismmay remain in its operative position while the cover plate is swung upwardly after disengaging the latch 22 from the keeper 23. It will be seen thatl a machine of this character may be readily Jarranged alongside of an adding or calculating machine, suchas is used in banks or other financial institutions so that as the amounts of the checks are recorded or tabulated, they may be successively moved over the table 7 where they'will be caught by the feed rollers 11 and 26 and then carried through the machine Iand automatically provided with the proper indorsement. Thus such clerical operations may be greatly facilitated and much time and labor saved.

- `While I have herein shown and described one embodiment of the improved machine which I have found to be entirely satisfactory in practical use it is nevertheless apparent that the novel features oflmy present disclosure might also be exemplified by ,numerous 4other alternative structures.

Accordingly, it is to be understood thatvI reserve the privilege of resorting to all such legitimate changes i-ntheform, construction and relative arrangement of the several parts as may be fairly embodied within the spirit land scope ofthe invention as claimed.

. I claim: 1. In combination with afeed table, motor operated printing mechanism', and means for mounting'said mechanism9 and its operating motor for bodily unitary movement into and out of operative position with relation to said table.

2. In combination with a feed table, a presser roll and means for yieldingly urging said roll upwardly to proj ect above the table surface, motor operated printing mechanism including a rotatable printing die adapted for engagement upon said presser roll, and

. means for mount-ingV said mechanism for bodily unitary movement into and out of 'heren-nder.

operative position with relation to said table.

3. In combination with a feed table and feed rollers projecting above the surface of the table, a motor operated printing mechanism including a rotatable printing die to engage one of lthe feed rollers, complementary feed rollers operated by the motor of said mechanism to engage the other feed rollers mounted inv said table, and means for pivotally supporting the printing mechanism andthe last named feed rollers for unitary bodily swinging movement in a vertical plane into and out of operative posi- 5. In combination with al feed table, a

housing pivotally mounted at one of its ends for vertical swinging movement with respect to said table, motor operated printing mechanism arranged within said housing and movable as a unit therewith into and out of operative relation to) said table, and acover for said housing affording access thereto and pivotally mounted at one of its ends for independent swinging movement.

6. In printing mechanism ofthe character described, a rotatably mounted member,l a printing die having a shaft, a bearing supporting one end of said Shaft,V the other end of said shaft being rotatably supported by said member, means for adjustably and def tachably connecting the printing die withl said member, a motor driven shaft, and means for transmitting rotation from said (shaft to said member to rotate the printing 7. In combination with a printing mechanism having a rotatably mounted printing die, an absorbent ink supplying roller engaged upon the periphery of said printing die, an ink receptacle, ancontinuous spiral blade rotatablyl supported in said receptacle and frictionally contacting with the absorbent inking roller to continuously and uniformly supply inkI to said roller in the operation of the mechanism. l In testimony that I claim the, foregoing as my invention, I have signed myl name LAWRENCE J. ZAHN. I 

